Deeplinks Blog posts about File Sharing

Before legislation becomes law in France, it must pass the muster of the Conseil Constitutionnel: a group of jurists who determine whether each new law is consistent with the principles and rules of France's constitution.

For the passage of Sarkozy's unpopular "three strikes" HADOPI legislation, the approval of the Conseil was the final hurdle to cross. If the council had approved the law, rightsholders in France would have been able to cast French citizens off the Internet with no judicial oversight, simply by alleging to the new HADOPI administrative body that they were repeat copyright infringers. These citizens would then have their names added to a national Internet blacklist for up to a year, and ISPs would be subject to financial penalties if they gave these exiles access to the Internet.

For decades, recording artists have lived in fear of their albums ending up in limbo if a record label refused to release it. But no more? Danger Mouse, who broke into the public consciousness with his remarkable Grey Album remixing Jay-Z and The Beatles and went on to form Gnarls Barkley, is apparently counting on the fact that it's the fans, not record labels like EMI, who have the upper hand in the digital age.

Danger Mouse has been working on a collection called "Dark Night of the Soul." Apparently, relations with EMI on the project have broken down, resulting in Danger Mouse issuing this statement:

Two more interesting applications have been blocked by Apple in its quixotic quest to police what users can think and do while using their iPhones.

First, we have Me So Holy, an iPhone app that takes a snapshot of the user and cleverly pastes it over the faces of holy religious figures such as Jesus Christ and the Dalai Lama. Well, it appears that Apple would prefer iPhone users to be a bit more pious — they've blocked the application from the iPhone app store as "objectionable."

Blasphemy, however, has been around for a few centuries, and even Steve Jobs is unlikely to have more success eradicating it than past inquisitors. P2P filesharing, on the other hand, is a relatively new idea, and from the perspective of Mr. Jobs and company, even more dangerous and heretical.

The L.A. Times Technology Blog hits the nail on the head, responding to news that the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has sent out letters asking for help investigating security breaches caused when government employees and contractors who use P2P software accidentally share information on networks like Lime Wire.

Earlier this week, reports that ISPs were going to be cooperating with the RIAA's "three strikes" plans triggered alarm bells. Three-strikes proposals to kick customers off the Internet for alleged file-sharing have struggledto find acceptanceacross the world, so it seemed unusual for American ISPs to be contemplating plans that would result in the termination of paying customers. Major ISPs must have seen the storm clouds of user dissent brewing as well, as AT&T and Comcast quickly issued emphatic denials to the rumors that they were interested in becoming IP enforcers for copyright holders.